1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape printing apparatus and a tape printing method in which printing is performed by the use of a print tape partially serving as a laminate tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional tape cartridges include: a type in which a print tape and an ink ribbon are accommodated in a cartridge casing and freely reeled out therefrom; and a type in which a print tape, a laminate tape, and an ink ribbon are accommodated in a cartridge casing and freely reeled out therefrom. These two types of tape cartridges are put into their dedicated tape printing apparatuses. In the former case, a print tape is printed and then cut off to form a label, and in the latter case, a print tape is printed and bonded with a laminate tape prior to cutting thereof to form a laminated label.
Note that the tape printing apparatus in the latter case enables to form non-laminated labels with a tape cartridge not dedicated to lamination being inserted thereto. The tape printing apparatus in the former case, however, does not enable to form laminated labels even with a tape cartridge additionally accommodating a laminate tape being inserted thereto, since the apparatus has no mechanism of bonding a print tape and a laminate tape together.
Accordingly, in the case of the printing apparatus which has no mechanism of bonding a print tape and a laminate tape together, it is thought possible to form a print tape serving as a laminate tape by performing printing using a print tape laminated with a recording tape for printing and a laminating transparent tape and then folding the transparent tape thereon. However, since the transparent tape is folded after the print tape is printed, there may arise a case where the print face is not fully laminated or printed characters are only partially folded depending on the position of folding involved.